celebrating Smokey

8 years ago today we met Smokey for the first time.....we had to wait a couple of days to bring him home so that we could spend the whole day with him (already had plans to attend nephew's birthday party).    There was a little bit of adjustment time, and we laughed that he'd growl at his reflection on the tv screen, and soon he was right at home.  

He can be a stinker, but we wouldn't have him any other way.  

Here's hoping we have many more years with him around.

I don't realize how much he's turned grey until I look at older photos of him.....we've all turned a little greyer over the years.

We may need to give him a treat or a new toy to honor the occasion, sort of his birthday with us :)

minions

I am definitely a kid at heart.  We went to see the Minions for nephew's 10th birthday and I think I liked it more than anyone, even the kids!


I especially like that one of the main characters was named Kevin.....I think niece got confused when we'd talk about character Kevin and she thought we'd talk about Uncle Kevin...


Can I please have a minion (or 100) ??

tuckered out dog

We had a great weekend at the beach with all of the Tuckers.    I think this photo of Smokey on the way home sums up how all 3 of us felt on our way home on Sunday -- tired, a little sandy, and very content.


We rented a beach house and went to the beach each day.  It was great to spend the weekend with everyone, and a great chance to 'unplug'.

Our niece even had a 'beach birthday' - we celebrated her 6th birthday at the house -- I got to write her name on a cake, and it was actually legible!

She liked the gifts we got her - a music CD that she would dance to, a purse, and shrinky dinks -- we didn't do any of the shrinking yet, but she enjoyed working on coloring them.   I have to admit the shrinky dinks were as much for me as for her.

this is 40

Happy Belated birthday Kevin!

He turned 40 this week, and boy did we celebrate, it just took a few days for me to come back and post here.

We hosted a party last weekend, and I think everyone had a great time.    We had wanted to highlight our new neighborhood and found a local bar to host it (no rental charge -score!).  It had a great view of downtown and we were able to control the music.

A girl from our old neighborhood made the cake for the party, and she did just what I wanted, and it was delicious (we enjoyed the leftovers all week!) .  I am not a fan of the headstones, grim reaper theme for the party, and so I went a different way.   We see 40 as just the next chapter in his life, with lots to look forward to so i really liked the 'aged to perfection' idea, and the bar had a statue of Jack Daniel's up there with us so a Jack Daniel's theme was perfect.

On his actual birthday we had a great dinner at a local (new to us) Italian restaurant.  it is one of three located right near each other and the way they are situated it feels like you are walking in a courtyard in Italy.   Great setting, and delicious food -- amazingly, neither of us had pasta!

As I told K on facebook, he makes 40 look fun!!

Wimberley

We had a fantastic vacation and it was just what we needed to recharge.

We had decided we wanted to take Smokey on a trip with us this summer, and a short road trip was just what we wanted.    We rented a cabin and enjoyed a few days to ourselves.   I loved that my cellphone had no service so I could really unplug, and even though I brought my laptop it never came out of its bag.   The place did have wi-fi, which came in handy for looking up a few places to go and directions as needed.   Mostly, we just enjoyed each other's company and the scenery.   We only turned on the tv to watch a movie in the evening, and even then it was movies we'd already seen.

Parts of Wimberley were hit hard by the flooding on Memorial Day weekend, so leading up to the trip I was a little worried at what we would find, but also didn't want to call while people who work in the area could be trying to rebuild their lives.  I did ultimately call (had to see if it was ok for us to come) and they said that the place was fine, and so we went -- figure its the best thing we can do, bring our tourism dollars to a city on the mend.

Monday

We drove to Wimberley, driving over the Blanco River (where the worst flooding was) was surreal, all these flattened trees, and piles of belongings out at the curbs.  We were also surprised to see disaster relief trailers -- makes sense, we just didn't expect it.    The city looked unharmed - really cute little collection of shops of all kinds.   We went to the local grocery store to pick a few items we needed (charcoal, juice, half and half -- and a lighter for the grill (very important)) and then went to find the cabin.     Finding the cabin was an adventure, the directions were not the best, but we did finally find it -- turns out its on a piece of land with the owners of the property and another rental that they own.     Not quite as secluded as we thought from the description, but still plenty of privacy.

We got settled into the place - a very comfortable place with lots of comforts -- they even provided fresh eggs (they have a chicken coop) and locally grown coffee.    We cooked outside on the charcoal grill each night - fajitas that night.     We also took advantage of the fire pit and made a great campfire and roasted marshmallows for s'mores.     We enjoyed the evening and watched the stars come out.

Tuesday

After exploring the grounds, we decided to visit one of the nearby wineries.  After looking at descriptions and photos online we chose one that promised great views and also contained vineyards (some Texas ones are only winery - make the wine there, but grapes come from elsewhere).  Driftwood Estate Winery was just what we wanted.   We did our tastings indoors and then took our glasses of wine to the grounds outdoors -- beautiful, and they welcome picnics!   Its on a bluff  so we sat at a picnic table and were able to look down at the valley and the vineyard and surrounding area.   Their bubbly white, called Starry Nights, was delicious.  Kevin is more of a fan of reds, he liked their Alamo Red.

On the road to the winery, we'd seen a sign for a rum distillery and decided we had to check that out too.   I kid you not, its in a family's front yard!   We met the owner (Laura) and they had just recently built an outdoor tasting area, reminiscent of a bar. We were able to to taste all 3 kinds of rum that they make.   My favorite was the vanilla one (Laura makes her own vanilla extract for it) and we bought a bottle to bring home.

We enjoyed a lazy afternoon and again grilled outside -- chicken and corn on the cob.  I had forgotten to bring corn holders so we had to use giant skewers, it worked but was pretty funny to see.


Wednesday

We wanted a little more active day, so we decided to check out Mt Baldy.  Its a large hill in town and limestone steps lead all the way up to the top.  Smokey did great going up and down the stairs with us and the views from the top were spectacular.

Afterwards we walked around the town a bit and did some window shopping.   We also found a dog-friendly restaurant to stop into and enjoy the view of the creek, they even gave Smokey his own dish of water.   The menu looked good, but we just weren't hungry so we just had a drink and enjoyed the scenery.  

We had a lazy afternoon.  the heat of the day was a great excuse to read and nap!

That night we prepared one last meal on the grill, burgers.



We headed home on Thursday.   Each morning we enjoyed eggs that the homeowners had left for us and Kevin tried out their french press for his coffee - he's a fan.